A word about texturepacks

I spend a lot of time in this forum, maybe a bit more than I should, and I have noticed that there are some major misconceptions about texture packs in general. I would like to address these...myths. I will first address the myths held by those who peruse the texture packs but do not create them. I will then address myths held by those who are considering starting a texture pack.

Each time I update this thread I will mark the new additions with an asterisk.

The Myths of Texture Pack Users

*Myth: Licenses on texture packs are only there because the creator is a money grubbing jerk and I can ignore then if the person has not been around for a long time.

heh, no. This forum follows the copyright laws of the United States of America, because that is were Curse is located. The rules of the forums regarding licenses are based on that.

Here is a little factoid for you all. As a citizen of the U.S. anything that I post online that is original content is automatically copyrighted under the DMCA (Digital Media Communications Act). My packs would fall under this because they are all original art work. The copyright is, by default, an "all rights reserved" copyright. This means that the ONLY right that other people have is the ability to view my work. Technically you can't even download my packs because that would technically be making an "unauthorized" copy. This is why we have to have licenses on our packs. A license is a body of text that give you, the consumer, permissions. The amount of permissions is up to the individual who owns the intellectual property. We make licenses so that you CAN enjoy our work, not so we can make all the money we can off it.

A version of the DMCA has also been adopted by the U.N. so that any country that is part of the U.N. also follows similar copyright laws.

In the U.S. the length of time for which a copyright on intellectual property is valid is about 90 years. This means that if the person is gone from the forums for 4 months you cannot continue their pack unless you have obtained permission either through personal messaging or their license.

If you are thinking of using someone else's texture for a continuation or remix please obtain permission and post proof of said permission on your thread.

A note for present texture pack artists, if you have a pack I would strongly suggest writing provisions for pack continuations in your license. For example, the Texture Artists Union will obtain redistribution and continuation rights to my work in the event that I leave the forums, or die, or something. This will help lessen the confusion about the topic of continuations if we all do this.

Myth: Making a texture pack is a one day project so I should post asking for the creator to update everyday.

Please don't do this. In fact, if I remember correctly, this is against forum rules anyway. It is possible to slam out an update in a day. However, this only happens if there are one or two new textures. Remember that most texture pack creators have jobs outside of minecraft. Some, like Wayuki and Dr. Kalashnikov actually work at game design companies. A good way to approach this is to:

1) Assume that the creator has AT MOST 4 hours a day to work on textures.

2) Assume that those four hours will be spent on one texture. I know from personal experience that this is true about 50% of the time. Sometimes it is more than that. A good animation can take 20+ hours. Be patient. We appreciate it.

Myth:If it's posted on this forum it is finished.

I can count on one hand the number of finished packs on this forum. The vast majority of packs are works in progress, this is partially because there are a lot of textures to make now and partially because artists tend to be unsatisfied with their work. I know from experience that it is a good idea to redo textures occasionally. The more you texture the more practice you get and the better you become. Therefore, sometimes it is to your advantage to revisit old textures because you can do them better. Most of the texture artists I know are constantly revising old textures to improve them.

Myth:Texture packs can crash minecraft.

Texture packs do not modify any code, at all. Therefore if you are having problems, like black screens or grayed out options, it is a problem on your end and not with the texture pack. The most likely cause is a problem with a mod, or improper MCpatcher installation. Most texture pack artists are not computer whizzes and so getting mad at them when they can't help doesn't solve anything.

Myth:Stickies (pinned threads) aren't important.

Quite the opposite, before you post ANYTHING read the forum specific rules and follow them. They are there for a reason.

Myth:Minecraft can support HD packs so why should I get optifine or MCpatcher?

As of Minecraft full release 1.5, Minecraft supports all vanilla features with high resolutions. However, vanilla features account for only half of many packs' beauty, and more for some packs. An increasing number or resource packs are using an increasing number of non-vanilla features, and not only do these non-vanilla features add a lot to a pack, they can be key aspects to some packs with heavy themes. HD patchers MCPatcher or Optifine should be used when using resource packs, as they are very important and easy to install.

Quote from 42and19 »

Minecraft does not support HD packs. Just because your game does not blackscreen when you run an HD pack does not mean it works. As soon as you see something like the pumpkin or brick texture and you see portal or flame animations in the corners you will know what I am talking about. That is NOT the fault of the pack or the creator. That is because you have not installed an HD fix properly. Minecraft will not run anything other than 16x effectively without and HD fix like MCpatcher or Optifine. If you are seeing graphical errors with a texture pack the absolute best thing to do is make sure that your HD fix is up to date.

The Myths of New Texture Artists

*Myth: There are no tutorials about making texture packs.

This is so false it's stupid. There are dozen of tutorials ranging from color choice to what programs to use. You just have to be willing to look. One of them is actually pinned with this thread at the top of this forum.

Myth: Making a texture pack is a one day project.

Making a GOOD texture pack is more than a one day project. I personally have spent 200+ hours on Impressions and I am no where near satisfied with the pack overall. I have sped up with practice and now, instead of taking 4 hours per block on average I am down to about 2 hours; though that is only if I go with the first draft of a block which only happens half the time. If you are going to make a good texture pack expect to spend a large portion of your life working on it.

Myth:Packs become popular over night with no work and if I don't get a lot of comments then people must not like it.

This is wrong for three reasons.

First, if you are thinking this your motivation for making a pack is wrong. Your primary motivation for making a texture pack SHOULD be because you like it to make textures. Your second motivation should be because you want to make a pack for yourself. THEN it should be to make a pack for others. If you do not have this in the right order you WILL get burnt out and quit.

Second, Packs only become popular overnight if they are featured by a popular let's play person, even then they have to be somewhat popular in the first place. Popularity comes from recognition which comes from two things. First, get your pack on the texture pack central. Second, make sure to make a banner and put it in your signature, also make your banner available for others to use. Being well known take a lot of work, that's one of the reasons why I spend so much time on this forum.

Third, comments are not a measure of popularity. There is absolutely no corrilation between number of comments and popularity. Some of the most popular packs have only a few hundred comments, while others have thousands. Instead go by downloads and views. If your download to view ratio is very low (ie people look at it but tend not to download) then you need to redo something.

Myth:Making a simple bucket-fill pack is OK for your first texture pack.

This is only partially false. Making a simple pack is a good way to familiarize yourself with how minecraft textures work and were they are place. However, unless it is amazing or you want feedback on how to make it better, don't bother posting it.

This will not only annoy everyone, you will also receive a large amount of borderline flame posts from the community. Simple bucket-fill packs have been done to death. When you make a pack it is best to try to do something that hasn't been done before. Either an idea that had been attempted but not well, or something completely revolutionary.

Myth:Making a simple pack is easy.

This is one of the most common misconceptions I run across. It also can't be more wrong. Making a good simple pack that will not get you laughed out of the community is probably one of the most difficult things to do. Examples like Doll House and Puffy lines are a paragon of what a simple pack SHOULD be. However, if you find yourself wanting to name your thread Simplepack. RUN AWAY!

Myth:This is my first texture pack so people shouldn't criticize me.

Just by posting your pack on this forum you're are inviting criticism. If you can't take criticism then you have to options; don't post or ignore them. DON'T get defensive, it makes you look silly. Just because it is your first doesn't give you an excuse to post a poorly designed pack. Run the pack by your friends first, the kind of friends that are honest, and if they say it is crap, don't post it.

If you do want feedback because you want to improve than say so, for some reason that makes people a bit more respectful in their posts. As a general rule I ignore people who are rude when they comment on my work.

The Myths Contributed by Forum Members

Contributed by Net_Bastard

Myth: Making a low-res texture pack is easy.

Making a GOOD Low-res texture pack (e.g. low-res packs that aren't checkerboard) is extremely hard. Packs like Scorpiux and Blizzard's 4x probably took a lot of time and effort to get it looking nice enough for no ridicule. My 4x pack was extremely hard to make presentable, and even then, I decided to change it to 5x because some of the textures didn't work right. There aren't many texture pack artists who think this, but there was a person who commented on my texture pack and ­ed about how "i=It was probably the easiest pack anyone can do."

Myth: Bucket fill texture packs reduce lag.

The only way bucket fill texture packs would reduce lag would be if the pack was ACTUALLY 1x1 (As in, the terrain.png itself is resized to 16x16.) Just bucket-filling the textures won't do a thing if the pack is the default res. Would CryEngine2 be able to run on an old netbook if the textures were all one color? You would probably think that's preposterous. Well, it doesn't. And guess what? Minecraft works the same way!

Myth: Making a good photo-realistic pack involves using images that you have found using Google Image Search.

This couldn't be any more wrong. Seriously; does the concept of tiling not matter to whoever believes this!? Using pictures would work well for some textures like planks, but for everything else? NO IT DOESN'T! If you want too make a good photo-realistic texture pack, you will either have to:

A ) Hand-draw it

Or B ) Be like Aageon and use a CGI program like Blender or 3DS Max to make your stuff.

Is that too much work for you? Then forget about making a photo-realistic texture pack.

Myth: Upscaling the default texture pack and adding a filter is an original idea and looks good.

There are about as much as these texture packs as there are noiseless simple packs. You are not original because you added a bumpmap filter to the default texture pack. Also, they look like crap. They make everything look like they're made of tiny bathroom tiles.

Contributed by Celticguy08

Myth: All you have to do is put the texture pack in the texture packs folder.

Fact: As of 1.5, you no longer require an HD patcher simply for resolutions above 16x16. However, the use of non-vanilla resource pack features (such as extended HD fonts and connected textures) is constantly increasing, and some packs with specific themes won't get the right effect without the extended features. So for best results, you should use an HD patcher, either Optifine or MCPatcher, whenever using resource packs.

Quote from 42and19 »

Fact: If the pack is HD, you have to use HDpatcher or OptiFine, and for your game to run smoothly using 128x128 and up texturepacks, you have to have a good graphics card and a generally powerful computer.

Yes. This is definitely what we need right now! All of these simple packs and "just in my spare time" pack creators have clearly fell victim to those myths. I quite agree with all of this, I would normally suggest pinning this topic, but even if it was pinned on the main texture packs forum, I bet it would get the same kind of views as the "MUST READ"...

I like this. A lot of the simple ideas here should apply to more things. Seems to be a decent collection of tips for those who are considering taking a texture pack (something I have debated doing myself), which I sadly think way too many people miss :/

(I have just narrowly avoided turning the previous post into a quick rant about simple texture packs. Right now's not the time, heh)

I am going to do some reformatting of this thread because of a PM I got. I will be dividing the myths into two sections; one for texture pack users and one for creators. Also, if you guys have any suggestions I will gladly accept them. If I get enough I might make a contribution section.

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"Look, I don't care if your 8 or 20. If you can't take criticism or opinions, then get off the internet." -Stronghold257